The Becoming

Everyday we are becoming. Becoming more or becoming less. Becoming more valuable or perhaps, God forbid, less valuable to those around us. Never less valuable to God Himself. He will always cherish us. We become more disciplined or less disciplined based on nothing more than decisions we make daily to take action in our lives. Some choose to take no action and therefore become less valuable to those around them and to themselves. Others take everyday as an opportunity to grow and learn and therefore become more valuable to those around them and themselves.

A good friend, who really is more a brother given I have no doubts about his sincerity. This is something I value highly and am discovering is less apart of our social fabric everyday. Well, my brother Shawn, you know who you are, has always been scrupulous and more than straightforward with me with ideas and concepts that most people skirt these days. Just yesterday when he and his family came through for a visit we talked for hours about the state of our Christian union in this nation and the different ideas we as Christians have giving birth to actions or lack thereof in our daily lives. Shawn has inspired me today to pull a book off the shelf that I bought years ago and actually put it to use. It really is sad that I have purchased quite a few books either on a referral or just general interest and have yet to actually crack them. Another testimony to how we are either becoming more or less depending on...

The book? Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life by Donald S. Whitney. Dr. Whitney does not waste anytime getting to the meat. A very practical guide for someone wishing to become more disciplined indeed. Shawn's wife also made the comment (or very similar to), "[the book] helped me understand that what we do is a discipline." Very profound indeed.

Donald S. Whitney makes many poignant points in the opening chapter. Yet even without opening the book you can find some profound truths. The freedom to grow in godliness - “to naturally express Christ’s character through your own personality - is in large part dependent on a deliberate cultivation of the spiritual disciplines.” (From the back cover) We must be deliberate in our walk with God. We must discipline ourselves and make it a priority so as to truly profit from 'becoming'.

I will come back to lessons I am learning and wish to share with others here as I continue to read.

Please pray for my family as times are challenging and we seek the Lords will. Pray that I will continue to grow in my ability to wait on the Lord.

Thank you and God bless.

A Game of Candy Land and You Cheated

First post in a while but I was inspired by tonights events.

Our game of Candy Land tonight turned into quite the melodramatic temper tantrum. Actually right this second my oldest son, Cole, is receiving a spanking from his mother because he has been throwing a temper tantrum of spinning head pea soup spitting proportions over losing the game to his brother Jonah. He claims that "daddy cheated", while what in fact happened was he continued to move his brothers game piece around the board while we played and on the last play he had moved it so close to the Rainbow Kingdom (that sounds like a scary place) that Jonah's double blue card made him victorious. I just happened to be the unlucky one to move Jonah into the winning position and declare his victory. Cole then proceeded to act out a scene from the Exorcist, claiming I had cheated by moving Jonah's piece for him, since he could not easily reach across the board and do it himself I had no choice; also he had been moving everyone else's game piece or his own in the wrong direction the entire game, so why wouldn't I help him out and end this form of slow torture.

Parental Warning: If you do not own Candy Land, do not buy it. If you have then burn it immediately.

Be All You Can Be

The Army used 'Be All You Can Be' as their marketing slogan for twenty years before changing it to, 'Army of One' back in, I believe 2001.

For many more years than twenty I have lived by this slogan, not because I had my eyes set on the Army as a career or anything, but because I just believed that any goal I set for myself was only as good as my determination and will to complete it. Since I can remember I have been living my life believing that I was the one calling the shots. For years now, after surrendering most things to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ back in February of 1996 I continued, although I would never have admitted it at the time, to control my own destiny, believing that I was shaping my own destiny through the power we have been granted from our God in freedom of the individual will. All the while God frowned, shook his head, and perhaps grinned a little at my goofy decisions. I can hear Him now, like a loving yet disapproving parent, "If you would only have heard me back then, you can not even conceive the blessings."

Well, here I am now.

Lord, help me to be all You have created me to be.

For All Things Pass Away

Perhaps I think too much. A luxury would be the ability to think less especially when my thoughts dissect everything around me.

Today I noticed how wanting we are as humans, much more so as Americans than anywhere else on the planet, and how we want for much more than we are worthy. God never promises us a thing when we are born except the gift of eternal salvation and only if we are willing to accept it. We are either reared with these expectations instilled in us by our parents or we, one day just out of nowhere, decide we want 'more'. Whatever that 'more' is depends also on the individual wanting. Some want more stuff while others want to do more. Perhaps more time and I guess we all want more of this the less of it we have.

What do I want? I don't know. This changes all the time in relation to the world and what there is to be had but I think when all around me unravels I will be satisfied with what I have. Paul writes that he has learned to be content in any and every situation (Philippians 4:11-12) and while I am certainly not there yet I have prayed that God would take me there (as though it were a place). Asking Him for this is a precarious request. God has a funny way of answering prayers. A friend of mine even poked fun at me recently, making reference to the chaos we have endured in the last year, saying, "So, have you been praying for patience or what?" Now asking for God to allow me Paul's otherworldly satiated temperament could bring even more interesting times.

I have not prayed for patience in quite some time but perhaps God's knowing better than I do what I need He has been obliged to help me experience a few things and perhaps I am experiencing this in the smallest moments of life.

What do I want?

To be truly loved for not what I can provide but just for who God create me to be.
To love truly.
To be dealt with honestly by all I cross paths with.
To understand why we attach conditions to our acceptance of others.
To not attach conditions to my acceptance of others.
To know Him as well as He knows me.
To be free of misunderstanding.
To be truly free.
To not want anymore.

One thing I do know is that this too will pass. All things pass away.